Hi Adam,
I agree with a number of the comments made in response to your query re
emotions, but I think Rick is closest to reality in suggesting that there is
a palette of emotions and some, such as love, do cross Pirsig's supposedly
discrete boundaries. I actually suggested 'love' only a few days ago in a
post on a different topic as one of the more interesting things, like
'terrorist', or 'democracy', that clearly do not fit comfortably within one
level.
But my reason for responding is to point you to a rather interesting book on
emotions called 'Upheavals of Thought' by Martha C. Nussbaum, which was
reviewed by The New York Times on Nov 18, 2001, and which includes the first
chapter of the book in its web site. Try
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/18books/chapters/18-1st-nussb.html
Her thesis, in short, is that "emotions are not just the fuel that powers
the psychological mechanism of a reasoning creature, they are parts, highly
complex and messy parts, of this creature's reasoning itself." Hence
emotions are a significant part of the intellectual level, despite Platt's
quote from Pirsig.
I have only read the chapter I mentioned above, but I found Nussbaum quite
convincing. There are also books such as 'Emotional Intelligence' by
Goleman(?), which I read some years ago, which seem to make similar points.
Regards
John B
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